Moments That Changed Us

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

• Why hitting the limits of your own capacity can reshape how you prioritize

• The moment Teresa realized no one has the “right answer” in hard times—and how that unlocked - her agency as a leader

• Petra’s hard-earned lesson about loyalty, burnout, and setting healthy boundaries

• How early user interviews (and a nudge from Marty Cagan) transformed Petra’s product practice

• The humbling reminders that you are not your user

Key Moments:

• [02:30] Teresa’s crash course as a startup CEO during the 2008 recession

• [11:20] Realizing prioritization is survival, not just a backlog exercise

• [18:45] “No one knows the answer” — the leadership shift that gave Teresa agency

• [29:10] Petra’s story: why the company doesn’t love you back

• [42:05] The pay raise that came too late

• [50:15] Marty Cagan and Petra’s first user interviews at Starbucks

• [01:02:00] Funny user research fails: “close the window” taken literally

Resources & Links:

• Follow Teresa Torres: ProductTalk.org

• Follow Petra Wille: Petra-Wille.com

Mentioned in this episode:

• The True Story of Struggles and Success Of A Startup CEO with Teresa Torres (barryoreilly.com/explore/podcast/the-true-stor…) by Barry O’Reilly (barryoreilly.com/about)

• Petra’s work on coaching product leaders (petra-wille.com)

• Marty Cagan (svpg.com/team/marty-cagan)

• iPAQ (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPAQ)